Ways of studying the brain

Question 1

What are the ways of studying the brain ?

Answer 1

• post mortem examinations
• electroencephalogram(EEG)
• event related potential(ERP)
• functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Question 2

What is the post mortem examinations ?

Answer 2

Ways of examining the brains of people who have shown particular psychological abnormalities prior to their death in an attempt to establish the possible neurobiological cause for this behaviour.

Question 3

Two studies that use the post mortem examinations ?

Answer 3

• Broca’s work - patient ‘Tan’ - displayed speech problems when alive and was subsequently found to have a lesion
• Jacopo Anneses - identify brain structure - post mortem on HM - his inability to store memory was linked with hippocampus
• Also used to establish a link between psychiatric disorders and underlying brain abnormalities